Background
Maehata was born in Hashimoto, Wakayama, as the daughter of a tofu producer and as a child learned to swim in the Kinokawa River.
前畑 秀子
Maehata was born in Hashimoto, Wakayama, as the daughter of a tofu producer and as a child learned to swim in the Kinokawa River.
In the fifth grade of elementary school, she set an unofficial youth record for the 50-meter breaststroke. She lost to Clare Dennis a mere 0.1 of a second. During the post-Olympic celebration after her return to Japan, she stated that she was considering to retire from competitive swimming due to family issues, but then Tokyo mayor Hidejirō Nagata reportedly asked her why she did not bring back a gold medal.
Over the next four years, Maehata trained very hard, and set a new world record for the 200-meter breaststroke on September 30, 1933.
Despite the time difference, the race was broadcast live in Japan by Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai Radio. In 1937, Maehata married Masahiko Hyodo, a professor of the medical school of Nagoya University, and retired from competition.
She was awarded the Purple Ribbon of Merit by the Japanese government in 1964 and inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1979. In 1990 she was designated a Person of Cultural Merit, the first sportswoman in Japan to receive such an honor.
She died of acute renal failure in 1995.